A judge will today decide whether Prince Harry’s US visa application should be made public in a long-running legal battle after it was questioned why he was allowed into the States after admitting taking drugs
A hearing over whether Prince Harry’s US visa application should remain private is taking place today (Image: Getty Images)
Prince Harry is facing a crunch hearing in a long-running battle over his US visa – and it could change his future forever.
Later today, a judge in the United States will decide whether a previous ruling to keep the Duke of Sussex’s US visa application private should stay in place – or if it should be made public, opening it up to scrutiny. The case comes after conservative Washington DC think tank, the Heritage Foundation, launched the legal case arguing that the US Government should release records about the Duke’s visa US application to show whether his drug use was disclosed.
In his controversial memoir Spare, Harry admits to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms. The duke revealed cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”, adding: “Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.”
Harry has lived in the United States with wife Meghan Markle for five years (Image: PA)
US visa applications specifically ask the individual about current and past drug use, which can have a detrimental impact on the progress of the application. Prolific drug use can lead to applications being rejected, however, immigration officers use their discretion against a range of factors.
In recent interviews, Harry has gushed about his life in California with wife Meghan Markle and their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. He even revealed that the thought of applying for American citizenship had crossed his mind. Back in September, Judge Carl Nichols ruled that the public did not have a strong interest in disclosure of the duke’s immigration records, but the Heritage Foundation is asking for the judgment to be changed.
The judge has agreed to reopen the case and ordered lawyers for all parties to appear in court for a “motion for relief from judgment” hearing in Washington DC later today. And the hearing will mark the first time the case has come back before the US courts since Donald Trump returned to the White House last month.
Donald Trump once warned Harry could face consequence if it emerged he lied on his US visa application (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The US president, who can intervene and ask for the documents to be released, previously warned that Harry could face consequences if he lied about taking drugs on his US visa application.
Harry, whose Invictus Games kicks off in Vancouver on Saturday, has long been berated by Trump since he and Meghan took the dramatic decision to quit as working royals and move to the United States five years ago. Back in 2020 at the time of the last US election campaign between Mr Trump and Joe Biden, the Sussexes appeared in a video urging Americans to ‘vote against hate speech’.
While they did not specifically mention anyone by name, the remarks were interpreted as referring to Trump and therefore an endorsement of Mr Biden, with some claiming it was a breach of the Sandringham Summit agreement, which was written up when the couple quit their royal duties in 2020. Later Mr Trump spoke out saying he was “no fan” of Meghan.
Last year, Mr Trump raged at the Biden administration for maintaining the privacy of Harry’s immigration application to “protect Harry.” He told the Express US: “I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.”
Days later he was also challenged on this stance on Harry during an interview with Nigel Farage on GB News. Mr Farage asked if there would be any “special privileges” for the prince, and the now president-elect said: “No. We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.”
Prince Harry’s Invictus Games kicks off in Canada on Saturday (Image: Getty Images)
Digging deeper, Mr Farage asked: “Appropriate action? Which might mean…not staying in America?” Mr Trump responded: “Oh I don’t know. You’ll have to tell me. You just have to tell me. You would have thought they would have known this a long time ago.”
However, there has been a hint that Harry’s visa woes during a Trump presidency won’t result in him any further action. It comes after Mr Trump’s son Eric suggested before the election last year that Harry’s visa would be safe because “no one cares” about him and that his wife Meghan is “pretty unpopular”.
The Heritage Foundation originally brought the lawsuit against the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) after a Freedom of Information Act request was rejected, with the think tank claiming it was of “immense public interest”.
The Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit argued that US law “generally renders such a person inadmissible for entry” to the country. The think tank also said answers on the duke’s prior drug use in his visa application should have been disclosed as they could raise questions over the US government’s integrity.
In the DHS’s response to the legal claim, it said: “Much like health, financial, or employment information, a person’s immigration information is private personal information.”
The submissions previously made by lawyer John Bardo on behalf of DHS also said no “publicly available information, shows that Prince Harry was ever convicted for a drug-related offence”. Mr Bardo added that any suggestion from the Heritage Foundation of wrongdoing on behalf of the US government was “purely speculative”.
